Modern optical networking systems continue to provide increased bandwidth, often through increasing the number of parallel optical links. However, the circuitry required to support larger numbers of parallel optical links may result in high power density, and acceptable performance of laser sources may require the laser sources to be implemented separately from photonic chips. Additionally, increased numbers of parallel optical links tend to require increased numbers of laser sources. Furthermore, semiconductor-based laser sources may have a significant impact on the overall reliability of the optical networking system.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.